BRE has been appointed lead partner in a £3m Energy Technologies Institute consortium project which aims to develop ways to improve the energy efficiency of most of the 26 million UK homes that will still be in existence in 2050.

With housing being the single largest component of the UK’s carbon emissions, the team will identify the most cost-effective and least disruptive methods to reduce the impact of individual buildings by refurbishment measures such as insulation improvements.

In order to meet the Government’s target of an 80% reduction in overall carbon emissions by 2050, refurbishment and retrofit work will have to be carried out on 12,500 homes a week, every week for the next 40 years. The project will also identify the key skills required in the workforce and optimise the materials distribution networks to bring maximum efficiency to the process.

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The ETI, a public private partnership that is tasked with developing the technologies to help the UK meet its 2050 carbon reduction targets on a mass-scale, is coordinating the two-year project to identify ways in which the refurbishment and retrofitting of residential properties can be accelerated by employing mass production techniques used in industry. The project, The Energy Zone Consortium, sees BRE working in collaboration with EDF Energy, Peabody, PRP Architects, Total Flow, UCL and Wates.

The Energy Zone Consortium will: Identify the size of the different market groups living in similar housing property types; Develop and deliver a route map for different technology innovations needed to achieve affordable, acceptable and effective housing refurbishment to improve thermal & energy efficiency; Analyse and recommend the design of lean supply chains for delivering mass-market whole house refurbishment solutions; Produce a report on the value stream for home holders, identifying how to change behaviour for different demographic and housing market segments; Provide recommendations for changes to the legislative environment and identify the effectiveness of different policy supported market incentives.

Speaking about BRE’s involvement, Project Manager Warren Pope said: "We are delighted to have this opportunity to lead the Energy Zone Consortium, to develop a practical method for energy saving for people in existing housing.

"A lot of progress has been made in the new build domestic market with retrofit and renovation development being left behind, now we have the opportunity to make real improvements to existing stock that will improve energy efficiency and help reduce the energy cost for the household."

(GK/KMcA)